CROI 2022: Have HIV-associated neurological disorders declined in people with HIV due to recent antiretrovirals?

The prevalence of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND) has decreased over the last decade among people with HIV who take antiretroviral therapy, according to an Italian study presented last week at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2022). Lower rates of HAND were associated with various patient characteristics and HIV-related factors, including the use of dual therapies and integrase inhibitor-based regimens.

Based on the ‘Frascati criteria’, a person is said to have HAND depending on the results from tests assessing several functions such as attention and working memory, mental processing speed, memory, and fine motor skills (the co-ordination of muscles, bones and nerves to produce small, exact movements, such as picking up a small object with two fingers).

Individuals are considered to suffer from HAND if any detected impairments cannot be explained by other conditions such as head trauma, substance abuse, vascular dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. Within the criteria, there are three progressive conditions of neurocognitive decline: asymptomatic neurocognitive impairment; HIV-associated mild neurocognitive disorder; and HIV-associated dementia.

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All Aidsmap reports from CROI 2022.